WESTMINSTER, Md. - The McDaniel College baseball team rebounded with a doubleheader sweep against NYU at home on Sunday.
Sophomore
Ryan Kelly and junior
Remy Mangum pitched a gem in game one and the Green Terror exploded for 12 runs in the second, including a walk-off RBI-single from junior
Jake Smith in the bottom of the ninth.
McDaniel 4, NYU 1
Kelly took the mound for the third game against the Violets of NYU. He cruised through the first two innings, but the McDaniel offense could not get anything going against the talented Violets pitcher Ashwin Chona.
Entering the bottom of the second inning, senior
Austin Goudeaux led off the inning and got hit by a pitch. He then stole second base. Seniors
Hunter Kelly and
Connor Uhrig also drew walks to load the bases. Senior
Joey Hubinger stepped to the plate and connected on a deep shot into left center field. All three runners scored and McDaniel had the early 3-0 lead.
In the fifth, the Violets threatened with runners on and one out. Harrison Blueweiss was up next for NYU and sent a hard hit ground ball towards first. Freshman
Ben Davis quickly scooped up the ball and through home for the force out, then Goudeaux quickly turned and through it back to first for the double play. The throw hit the runner in the back, but he was in the baseline and called out for runner's interference to end the inning with only one run given up.
Mangum came in for Kelly in the sixth inning and quickly put out the Violets hitters over the next two innings included a pair of clutch strikeouts to keep McDaniel in the lead.
NYU held McDaniel to just one run the rest of the way, but could not muster anything offensively. The infield for the Green Terror played close to flawless defense all day, but particularly in the latter part of the second game to beat the Violets 4-1.
McDaniel 12, NYU 11
The McDaniel offense went to work right away in the bottom half of the first inning of the second game on Sunday. Smith and junior
Tyler Yohn both had RBI singles in the opening inning, then senior
Billy Wheatley smoked one to right field scoring freshman
Todd Calhoun and
Yohn to go up five heading into the second inning.
The Violets slowly started to claw back into the game with two runs in the second and fourth innings to pull within one of the Green Terror.
In the sixth, NYU took the lead off an RBI-single up the middle from Nate Pallotta. Trailing by one, senior
Joey Hubinger came up to the plate and with
Wheatley on second. Hubinger found a whole in the defense for a single, and Wheatley scored to tie the game up at 7-all. Davis was up next and sent a deep shot into center field. The Violets centerfielder made the catch, but freshman
Robert Weer tagged up and scored to take the lead.
McDaniel added two more runs to take a 10-8 lead heading into the ninth inning. The Violets were able to respond by loading the bases early in the inning. After an RBI single from Richard Beggy, NYU managed to score two more runs to retake the lead 11-10. The Green Terror had one final chance in the bottom half of the ninth with the sun setting over Preston Field.
With one out on the board, Wheatley hit a hard hit ball to third base and raced down the first base line. The Violets first basemen was unable to hold onto the ball and McDaniel had the tying runner on first. Goudeaux drew another walk before he and Wheatley advanced to second and third after a wild pitch.
The Violets then intentionally walked Hubinger to load the bases. Davis came up to bat next. He saw a few pitches, then got plunked by the NYU pitcher to bring in the tying run.
Smith came up to the plate next with a chance to win the game. He already had multiple hits on the day and calmly waited for his pitch. He fouled one off, then connected on a ball into deep left field. The Violets fielder made the catch, but Goudeaux was waiting on third and took off for home plate as soon as the catch was made. He crossed standing up to bring McDaniel back to .500 early in the 2023 season.
The Green Terror return to action on Tuesday when they host Stevenson beginning at 2:30 p.m.
